Game rewatch of the day: Michigan’s Big Ten Tournament semifinal win over MSU in 2018

Right now, we are left with no sports to consume with the coronavirus outbreak canceling what we would usually be watching this time of year. We are going to try and pick a game or highlights every day to rewatch while all of this is going on.

There’s no better way to do this than by re-living a Michigan Wolverines victory over the Michigan State Spartans. Today we are remembering the 2018 Big Ten Tournament semifinal game at Madison Square Garden in New York, where the Wolverines downed the Spartans 75-64 to advance to the championship game against Purdue.

Of course, this would also be the team that featured Zavier Simpson, Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman, Duncan Robinson, Charles Matthews, Moritz Wagner, Jordan Poole, Isaiah Livers, Jon Teske and more that would wind up playing for a national title.

You can watch the full game replay here:

From our game recap back in 2018:

The Wolverines started the game extremely hot from beyond the arc, with Charles Matthews sinking back-to-back 3-pointers to give U-M a 14-6 advantage.

MSU would fire right back with a 10-0 run capped off by a Gavin Schilling alley-oop to take a 16-14 lead with 11:16 remaining in the half.

Miles Bridges made his presence felt with a triple followed by a Xavier Tillman dunk to give MSU a 29-26 lead. It forced John Beilein to call a timeout with less than two minutes to go in the half.

That would be the score at halftime as U-M missed its last eight shots of the first half. The Wolverines were outscored in the paint 16-8, out-rebounded 23-17 and went just 4-of-18 from deep.

Moritz Wagner, who was 0-of-8 from the field in the first half, made a statement out of the locker room. The German forward continued to shoot and eventually it led to three of his next four shots falling, resulting in a 10-2 run and a 36-31 U-M advantage.

With MSU closing the gap, Abdur-Rahkman sunk his second 3-pointer of the game to give the Wolverines a 42-37 lead nearing the 11 minute mark.

The Wolverines would keep building the lead, getting contested layups from Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman and Zavier Simpson to post a 54-47 lead with 7:10 to go.

Matthews would throw a turnover in transition which resulted in a Matt McQuaid triple from the corner, making it 63-57 U-M with 2:07 to play.

Robinson would drive to the basket for an and-one nearing the one minute mark which essentially sealed the game for the Wolverines.

Abdur-Rahkman, Simpson and Wagner led the Wolverines with 15 points apiece. Matthews finished with 12 points and Robinson added 13, respectively.

Comment below with some of your memories from this game!